


c

by Japsody



Category: A - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 23:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20090431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japsody/pseuds/Japsody
Summary: “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.The hero can fall, the optimist can lose all hope, the light can become the dark, an innocent can become guilty, the powerful can become powerless, a child can be a victim, a hunter can be hunted, the brave can be terrified, the caring can be unkind, and a genius can lose their mind.Reminds me of my little sister when she told my dad that she wanted a boyfriend. My dad told her that she could have THREE boyfriends: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic lo





	c

**Author's Note:**

> “There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.
> 
> The hero can fall, the optimist can lose all hope, the light can become the dark, an innocent can become guilty, the powerful can become powerless, a child can be a victim, a hunter can be hunted, the brave can be terrified, the caring can be unkind, and a genius can lose their mind.  
Reminds me of my little sister when she told my dad that she wanted a boyfriend. My dad told her that she could have THREE boyfriends: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic lo

Collin Simmons is a boy who not only plays with his food like any other normal child but he also systematically divides rice grains into specifics number of stacks. Inside a small bowl. With the skillful use of chopsticks. Before pretending they be insects and eating them.

Fitz looks at him askance.

The skinny little brat is rare. If Collin acts like this with rice, Fitz doesn't want to imagine what he will do with noodles or beans or, _dear God,_ a soup.

During their dinner, Fitz finds out that Jemma is leasing an apartment near their old neighborhood, that it is close to her new job, there are good schools in the area, and that her parents are in excellent health. On the other hand, Fitz tells Jemma that his mother sends greetings and that he has just started Doctor Who, _again_.

Just then, the sound of a Chinese slab crashing into a glass distracts them from the conversation. Quickly, Jemma acts with skill -and amazing reflexes-preventing Collin's glass of water from spilling onto the table, and then she naturally returns to the conversation. Collin, as nothing, keeps counting rice, stacking grain number ten in a new tower.

"So when you will see everyone?" Fitz asks. "We could organize something, like a small dinner?"

"That would be nice."

Fitz nods. "The other week?"

"Perfect." Then Jemma turns cold and stops Collin's hand in the air, staring at him. "No catapults."

Collin shrinks and quickly transforms the catapult movement toward his mouth, devouring tower number twelve, making a total of 180 grains eaten, in the two hours they have been inside the restaurant. Not that Fitz is tracking the boy or his behavior, but this whole situation makes him really nervous, for some uncomfortable reason.

"Collin-" Jemma warns. "Finish your dinner, Uncle Fitz has brought you a gift."

The boy looks at him. "That's true?"

"Yes, indeed." Fitz scratches his ear before takes the gift out of his suit and hands it to Collin.

The boy inspects the gift as if he had x-rays on his eyes. "What is it?"

"Open it."

"A-frame!" The boy smiles as he cut the paper.

"Wow!" Jemma nods, looking significantly at Fitz. "Don't you like it? You love pictures.”

Collin spins it and squints, "But where's the picture?"

"Wha-what? It is for put a picture on it-" Fitz _explains slowly._ Daisy, who grew up in foster homes, had said to Fitz that he should get a gift for Collin since it would make things easier and when Fitz asked Jemma for the best option, she had insisted that Collin would be happy getting a frame.

But now, the kid turns to his mother, clearly unhappy, and says- "It is incomplete."

"What?" Fitz looks at Jemma in horror. "It is not incomplete."

"It doesn't have the photograph." The boy _explains, slowly_. “Its the _most important part_. This is used. ”

Well, the boy has it. Fitz completely forgot about the gift thing - until half an hour before leaving his apartment and he had grabbed one frame of the coffee table, taking out the photo of his mother, promising to frame her again later.

"It is not." Fitz lies.

Jemma clears her throat, "Collin, what do we say to uncle Fitz?"

Collin looks at his mother as if she doesn't understand anything about life and then, nods, tired.

"Thanks, Uncle Fitz." He says unenthusiastically before come back to his rice tower, leaving the gift forgotten on the table.

"Should I have brought him a ball?" Fitz asks but Jemma shakes her head, changing the conversation.

Well, as someone once said, in a commercial or something, let children be children -with the weirdness and madness that means-, he and Jemma have a lot to talk about anyway, they can take a little more time dining ... He just hopes that the friendly waitress doesn't kick them out because they're closing and the boy hasn't finished his bowl of rice yet-

*:*:*:*:*

"I have failed motherhood, Fitz." Jemma sighs as Collin walks down the street and come into an Apple store.

He raises an eyebrow. "Did you lose him inside a commercial store?"

_and did you change him for another boy in the pay line ???_

"Noo." Jemma is shocked, offended.

"Well, I don't judge. But that's what my mother told my grandmother when I spent hours in the supermarket and it got dark and the manager took me home. She said she had failed motherhood. ”

"That's terrible."

"It wasn't," Fitz assures her, hands in his pockets. "I ate a lot of free cookies, and Mom got me a new set of tools to make up for her mistake."

They both laugh and suddenly she stops and watches him with narrowed eyes. "Sometimes you and Collin are so.....-" She shuts up and denies with a silly smile "Forget it... Never mind. What I mean is that I expected to have a baby, a son to love unconditionally. I did not expect to transform me into a cleaner, car expert, teacher to full time, and gravedigger of my fears.”

They stop outside the Apple store looking for Collin through one window. Jemma cradles her arm inside Fitz's elbow hole and waves to her son, who plays with an exposed new Tablet model. “I'm not lying, being a mother it is more work than I ever imagined. I was tired and exhausted for the first two years and after, even more exhausted because he started walking and speaking but despite everything, it was great. Collin is great. He has a whole world in his head and understands things like no other child. He is perfect, and I am not saying it because I am his mother. He really is."

Jemma looks at him. Fitz nods, okay,_ if she says so_.

"But the thing is, I read all the books and explained to Collin how he was created according to studies in child psychiatry but, nothing prepared me for the day my son came crying from school because a boy made fun of him... calling Collin a scientific experiment without a father....-"

Fitz opened his mouth to add that the kids made fun of anything, even when the _boy who has a father_ comes to school with a black eye for trying to defend his mother, but better, Fitz keeps silent. There were worse things than being a test tube experiment, but he doubts that saying _that_, would help Jemma's mood.

"For that reason, I chose an open donation, Fitz." Jemma continues, speaking in a kind of whisper. "I knew this moment would come... eventually. ”

"This moment?"

Jemma nods. "Now that I'm here I am going to contact Milton. Collin deserves to have a father in his life - not just his grandfather's image."

As he said, Fitz knew that was overrated. Many children grew up with the image of grandparents, uncles, or whoever in their life and they were not ruined. Fitz himself grew up without a father figure after his father finally abandoned them but, although he admits that there are worse things than not having a father, having one would have made some things easier, especially with certain uncomfortable questions.

"Will you help me, Fitz? I will need a little help as I contact Milton and make sure he remains a good man before I introduced Collin."

Fucking hell, when she looks at him like that and blinks that way, under the poor lighting of the street, squeezing his arm with her hand, Fitz finds himself agreeing to help her.

"Sure."

Jemma smiles. "Meanwhile you and Collin could spend time together, you know? To bonding...it would be so good. Collin would really appreciate it.”

_Fantastic._

*:*:*:*:*:

Fitz wrinkles his nose at the smell of the corral while he watches the zoo birds along with Collin. The boy, standing right next to him, grimaces identical as Fitz's before writhing when a bird squawks in front of them.  
  
"These birds could have lice." The boy informs to Fitz with authority while he covers his nose with his little shirt. "Mum said some pigeons have them. We better see another animal, uncle Fitz.”

"Yeah uhm, good idea." Fitz is more than happy to please as they make their way through the zoo, away from the smell. 

Jemma is busy meeting with Milton for the first time in years and she had asked Fitz to watch after Collin and take the opportunity to get to know him better. 

It has been a month since Jemma returned to NY and while Fitz has spent almost every evening dining with Jemma - a Collin being added - or meeting with their friends, Fitz has never spent more than half-hour alone with the boy. Agree to take care of him for almost a whole day? it was madness. But Jemma has promised Fitz a reward dinner, which ended up sealing the deal and that was how he and Collin ended up at the zoo. And if he can keep Collin alive through this, Fitz is sure to be worthy of that dinner because so far, the boy has not only been miserable with the smells and sounds of the zoo's animals, but they have been _miserable together_ discussing every possible disease they can get from animals....or that humans can give to animals ... or just.... diseases that _exist._

Now they are watching the meerkats run and hide in holes. Fitz smiles because it is one of his favorite animals. Collin instead, shrinks. "They seem terrifying."

"They are not terrifying, they are like cats."

"Well, cats are scary."

"Good thing these are meerkats instead of cats, right?"

The boy nods. "Yep."

Throughout the day, the self-preservation sense in Fitz has learned how to take the course of the discussion with Collin, apparently. Because it was that or end up in paranoia _-together..._

"Cats can get leukemia, you know?"

Fitz nods, he knew that. Suddenly, he realizes that they both have taken the pose of pregnant women with their hands on their lower backs, so Fitz imperceptibly steps back from the glass and the kid.

"Have you ever been afraid of getting leukemia, Uncle Fitz?" Collin follows him, walking.

Fitz considers it. "Specifically leukemia don't, but I'm not going to lie you, I've had a good couple of hypochondria crisis in my life."

"What is that?"

"It's when you think you have diseases that you don't have."

"I have that!" The boy stops abruptly in the middle of the path and Fitz saves him from being hit by a baby stroller.

"It's okay, just don't do it_ MEN-TALS_," Fitz nods, apologizing to the baby stroller's mother. "Or you will end up in a very schizophrenic place inside your head."

"What does schizophrenic mean?"

Fitz doubts. Real adult responsibility here, right now, by the possibility of influencing the knowledge of his best friend's son, which, is quite literal and hypochondriacal for his young age.

Well, what difference does it make? It's better for Collin to find out about an adult than by Youtube. Jemma would surely approve it.

So Fitz,_ explains._

*:*:*:*:*:*

Fitz sits on his favorite bench in front of the monkey area, opens a pack of peanuts for the brat, and offers it to him. Collin has been quite introspective since the mental illness conversation. Plus, Fitz is 100% sure, from the way Collin continues to shrink back every time they see a new animal, that this kid doesn't exactly love the zoo as Jemma hinted.

"Do you want to talk about school?"

"Why?" The boy asks suspiciously as he sticks a handful of peanuts in his mouth.

Fitz shrugs. “Because you are a child and we have no other topic to talk about until your mom returns from her meeting. We are obligated to speak to each other until then. ”

"But I don't want to talk about that."

From the way the boy mutters, Fitz _knows it._ "Okay, what's his name?"

"Brian Wade but how did you know?"

"Because I also faced bullies at school - although today they seem to be scarier than the ones I had in Scotland." 

"Why do they do it?" Collin shrinks even further on the bench, forgetting his peanuts. "Why are they bad?"

"Most of the time it's like a rare favor, they hit you or mocking at you because they know you're better."

"But it hurts that they act that way." The boy gestures with his eyebrows and scratches his cheek before sucking in a couple of tears that he proudly doesn't let go.

At the gesture, Fitz is touched. "It's okay. Do you want to know how I stopped them? ”

Collin has your full attention now. "How?"

"Next time, you must act like a monkey."

"Like a monkey?"

Fitz nods and points at the monkeys fighting over bananas and showing their teeth, while others sway over the structures. "You must be as crazy as a monkey, so you can chase away bullies."

The boy considers it, seeing how one of the little monkeys involved in the fight manages to run away with two bananas in his hands and smile at the distance, mocking the chaos.

"Okay."

They remain silent a little longer, watching the monkeys and their monomanias as they finish their peanuts when suddenly, Collin turns to Fitz and says:

"Did you know that smallpox–"

_Oh no, _here they go again...

*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Finally after leaving the primate area and after visiting the insects' dome with pus and horrible things by Collin's insistence -because apparently that's what Collin loves from the zoo- they left the place and the boy fell asleep at Fitz side on the bus.

Fitz's arm is probably going to drop dead thanks to non-blood circulation from the way the prat curled up on him but he is afraid to move and wake up Collin, especially now there is finally silence between them. He doesn't want to be immersed in another awkward conversation about the best poison in the world or which insect in the place was greener and has more eyes.

So Fitz doesn't move, despite his arm tingling and the sun beats down on his face. Uncomfortable, he tries to protect Collin from the evening light with one hand so that he does not wake up and thus reaches the meeting point with Jemma without major incidents, but in doing so, the boy moves awake, blinks looks at him with his blue eyes and then ... he is back to sleep_. uff._

"He is just like you-" an old woman, in front of them, points out.

Fitz turns, _uhm?_ The old woman was talking to Fitz?

"Your son." The old woman gestures to him with a polite smile. "He is just like you."

"Oh no, he is no- we're not related, he's my friend's son."

"Oh god, excuse me for that, I would never have guessed. The boy is your little copy.”

Fitz nods, uncomfortable before being speechless. He has not been and will never be rude to an older person but her comment just knocked him out.

"How old is he?" She asks, oblivious to Fitz discomfort.

Fitz thinks about it. "Five, I think-"

"Good age." She says, confident. "Many questions, they are like a sponge."

"Yes, I have noticed."

She moves her chins in a grandmother's style. "Hmp." She said loudly. "Hmph, hmph, you two must be very united, then. You are very alike despite not being related.”

Fitz looks at the boy. They are not alike -_that much._

“Either way, you look cute, the both of you. Quite an image for the sight. ”

"Thank you, ma'am." He _supposes._

*:*:*:*:*:*

Upon arriving at their stop, Fitz walks with a personal stuffed monkey around his neck and a small copy for Collin under his wing, the little boss's backpack on his back because apparently wearing a backpack is unjustifiable for a tired brat boy engrossed in devouring a hotdog -Fitz bought for him one too, which ran out too fast. Fitz should have bought two, so he wouldn't feel sullen and wanting to steal his from the brat. Right now he was hungry and feeling like a pack mule more than a good Uncle Fitz.

"Mummy!" Collin yells, the last crumbs of the bread disappearing into his mouth and he runs to Jemma when they reach the meeting point.

She squats with her knees on the floor, setting her bags aside and opens her arms to Collin. "How was your day, sweetie?"

"Fantastic! the zoo is great, there were lots of insects and it was not scary at all...”

"Marvellous!" Jemma smiles at him, giving full attention to him as she stands up and takes his hand.

"...and there were SO MANY monkeys, mum-"

She looks at him in amazement "And weren't you afraid of monkeys?

"No," The boy inflates his chest. "Uncle Fitz was there."

Denying, because of the boy's childishness –and a bit for shame- Fitz goes ahead to pick up Jemma's bags and begins to walk next to them, with the brat's backpack still on his back, the two stuffed monkey on his neck, and with a terrible hunger as he listens to Jemma ask Collin the right questions and nods at the right moments.

Then Jemma turns to Fitz. "Thank you." She whispers meaningfully, looking directly into his eyes, before blushing and turning her attention to the boy.

Well, who cares to carry a little more weight, for a little more blocks, if it is possible that she blushes that way, again, on the way.

*:*:*:*:*:*

That night Jemma keeps her promise and they eat a delicious dinner that, by adult's amazement, Collin eats avidly without protest. Fitz washes the dishes while the little boss is properly bathed and taken to bed after that day's fatigue knocks him down. Finally, after a bedtime story by Simmons and a dismantled vacuum cleaner's repair by Fitz, they converge on Jemma's living room sofa, with identical cups of tea.

"Thanks for taking care of Collin today, Fitz."

"Don't mention it."

"I'm afraid to ask if it was terrible for you... Collin is, sometimes ... intense."

"Don't worry, he wasn't." Surprisingly, despite everything, it's true. "How was your meeting with Milton?"

Jemma drinks her tea, pondering it. "Everything went well, Milton seems to continue being a good man." 

Fitz nods, depositing his cup on the next table, taking a picture frame with a photo he hadn't seen in a long time.

"So-" Fitz resolves, out loud. "Does that mean he will be around Collin?"

Jemma nods, biting her inner cheek. “Eventually, yes, but I don't want to force Collin into anything. I want it to be natural.”

Fitz scoffs, wagging his eyebrows. "Because everything you do with Milton happens naturally."

Jemma gasps and punches him, pretending to be offended. 

"Ouch! Simmons!"

"Don't make fun of me, Leopold Fitz." She stops and looks at him. "I was so nervous to see my son's father today! it has to work for Collin!”

"It will, don't worry" Fitz dismisses it. "On the other hand, he should have been the nervous one to see you."

Her eyes narrow, evaluating him. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

Fitz pulls away from another fist, mocking. "A good thing! I swear... ouch!!"

"Well." Jemma decrees, but not before playfully hitting him one more time and back for her tea. "Milton said he admired me for how I made the decision to become a mother years ago. He thought I was amazing. ”

Fitz rests his nape on the sofa, looking at her -with so much admiration and softness - "You _are_ amazing."

She smiles slowly and Fitz can't take his eyes off her .... even her lashes are amazing. How he never realized how long they were? It was pretty weird because she didn't have the coloration that usually went with long lashes and he never noticed it before, but they were really long -and amazing... _Oh hell, distraction ... stop looking... NOW. _

Quickly, he coughs, distracting himself by studying the frame in his hands. 

"I can't believe you keep this, it's from almost 10 years ago." He said, more than anything because it was true. And because he really had to get distracted. 

"Well, that was the only university party worth to be framing."

"There was nothing remarkable," Fitz rolls his eyes. "I just remember you kissed me-"

"It was New Year, Fitz. I had to kiss someone!" Jemma laughs. "It was you or the guy from the computer department!"

"What an honor! All this time I thought it had been me among at least three other guys. ”

Jemma snatches the photo from Fitz's hands, denying. "I think it was you among at least six."

"Jemma!"

"I'm kidding, Fitz." She pats him on the shoulder in a reassuring, but teasing way. "It was a good kiss, though."

Fitz smiles shyly. "It was."

"And then you apologized."

"Yes I did," He nods, determined. "Because you said, like three minutes before, ‘Oh Fitz, New Year's kisses never mean anything. We'd be dumb if we don't kiss!"

“I hate when you use that voice! I don't even sound like that! ”

Fitz laughs. "You do."

"Fitz!"

"Okay, okay, you don't-" He admits.

She relocates the photo frame on the table and looks at it in silence. Then she turns to Fitz, determined. "I think I really want to know why you did it, Fitz." 

"Why did I apologize?

She nods.

Fitz sighs. "If I'm honest with you, didn't want to ruin our friendship-"

"But at least, we should have talked..."

Maybe they should have instead of going back to the dance floor and make a fool of themselves. The teenager in him had more than once regretted apologizing, but adulthood had proven his motivations. "And then what? started a relationship? Break up after one of our many fights? Sooner or later we would have stopped talking because being friends after a breakup doesn't really exist.” Fitz swallows. "And we were supposed to be never apart, Jems. We were best friends."

Jemma takes his hand, knowing what he means. "And we never will, Fitz. I promise you that now that I am back, we will never be apart again.”

Fitz nods. It feels good, to talk about this, finally. The past is past and all they know is comfortable friendship so Fitz quickly welcomes it and pushes the awkward feeling away. Until Collin's voice calls. "Mum? Can you blanket me again?"

She gets up, sighing. "I'll be right back."

"No, It's fine. Its quite late, I have to go."

"Are you sure?

"See you tomorrow, Jems."

She smiles, "See you tomorrow."

*:*:*:*:*

There's a little leak of doubt that's lodged in the back of his brain, along with you know, the late tax return, the way his body turns on with old lady Jane Goodall and the knowledge that his dentist appointment is coming ... things he knows but prefers to ignore.

When did the doubt begin? he cannot say specifically the exact moment, but the sum of them.

Since Jemma returned to NY, the old routines are back. They explore museums during the weekends, buy fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets and given the closeness of their apartments, most of the time they watch television together, betting on small things, playing Ticket to Ride, and sharing jokes with their mutuals friends.

Everything would be incredible if it weren't for the fact that Collin Simmons and his non-sporty physical appearance have been added to all of the above. 

Fitz will not deny it, he likes to see this mum facet of Jemma, disheveled after dinner, telling historical events to Collin as bedtime stories, calming tears with hugs, accepting mischiefs but punishing bad behaviors, arguing over which character of a cartoon is the best or simply, thanking Fitz with a twice-bright smile for the cup of tea when they are finally alone and silent.

The thing is, the boy is neither sporty nor fearless. Nothing at all. Nothing like Milton who, by the way, has begun to be around the boy under Jemma's close watch. And among all those things, there are little Collin gestures that Fitz can't help but notice. Things as shoulder movements, displeasure with smells, or simply the fact that the child is unable to avoid dismantling an electrical object just to see how it works inside just as Fitz used to do when he was a child. In fact, Fitz has had to fix Jemma's robot vacuum about five times in the last month and the microwave, three times. Thank goodness Fitz stopped Collin in time when he was walking with the screwdriver in hand towards the prototype of a new drone the day that Jemma and the boy came at his place by surprise after school and stayed for dinner.

This time, Fitz has a strange deja-vu when he sees Collin running on the Connie Island pier alongside Jemma towards the direction of a churros Foodtruck because honestly, the boy is running like a girl. _Just like Fitz._

_Oh God._

Fitz can't stop the small leak from turning into a well while he is calling Hunter on the phone.

"Mate!" His friend responds cheerfully. "Since Jemma comeback, I barely have heard from you, how have you been?"

Fitz swallows. "Hunter, this might sound crazy, but he looks like me, a lot."

"Who?"

"Jemma's son!"

"Damn it, I knew it." Hunter curses under his breath.

That doesn't sound encouraging. "Excuse me, but what did you know?"

"Mate, look, there is no easy way to say this but when the bird introduced me the lad, I noticed a certain likeness and under the sight of certain...strange event from a few years ago, I think we need to talk."

Fitz's stomach drops. "Okay, tell me, whatever it is."

There is background noise from Hunter's call. "I can't speak now, the divorce lawyers have just arrived."

“Divorce lawy-… really, Hunter? You and Bobbi, again?”

"What can I say? What we do agree on is that we cannot agree."

"Just apologize for whatever you have done!"

"I already have, and still Bobbi insists on bringing the lawyers."

Fitz denies. "That's hard."

"As I told you, I haven't heard from you in a while, you've missed a lot-"

"Uhm, sorry-"

"Do not be, it's not your fault. I understand that you're busy catching up with Jemma. Also, between you and me, I think Bobbi is already softening. I even think she growled at me less aggressively this morning. I was just hoping… ” Hunter raised his tone, scathing as if he was addressing someone on the other end of the line. "...fix this before a couple of thousand dollars spent on lawyers and the use of a damn judge!" Hunter cursed. "Well, I have to go. The lawyers are looking at me pissed off. Could you come to my house later? I don't think what I have to tell you is something I should say by phone. ”

"Damn it, Hunter just tell me ..." But then his friend said goodbye quickly and hung up.

The well in the back of his mind threatened to break into a dam, when Fitz caught up with Jemma at the start of the pier and accepted the churros Collin was carrying for him, noting his huge bright blue eyes and windblown sand-colored hair.

_Fuck._

*:*:*:*:*

"Why did not you tell me!" Fitz walks back and forth through Hunter's kitchen, messing up his hair.

"Because nothing made sense! You were drunk and saying horrible things about a gorilla lady, betrayal, and change. Nothing made sense! ”

"Oh, seriously? And didn't you think, I don't know, asking me to make sense of it?!!!”

"Look, there are things I don't want to know about my friends." Hunter uncapped a beer and offered it to Fitz, but Fitz refused, still walking. Hunter shrugged and drank it. "I am impartial to many things, mate. I don't mind listening with who you sleep with or who you don't, but I don't want to hear anything about feet, brocades, or the use of animals like gorillas for you know.... that."

"I don't.... Excuse me, did you say brocade?"

His friend looked at him. "There are things that I am not reproducing in my mind, but I will tell you that my colleague Randy from work is crazy, in comparison to him, your story of handwork with the image of the gorilla lady in the middle of the party was a blessing."

"How? What would he use a brocade for - "

"I think it involved the use of ropes and a Russian lady as well, though I won't say more-"

Fitz shakes his head, "Okay, I don't want to know. Let's just… let's just get back to the matter-” He stops and pinches the start of his nose. "You're telling me that I confessed to you that I, in the middle of Jemma's party... I did change ...-"

Fitz may have been grumpy by learning that Jemma was leaving him, jealous since Milton and his genes were the biggest cause of that, and drunk since he bathed with all the alcohol of the place_, _but he wouldn't ever have changed Jemma's donor sample, right?

But then, vague memories of him collapsing on the living room sofa, years ago, satiated and thinking about breasts, flood Fitz's mind.

"Oh God." Fitz leans against the wall. "I think I really did change the samples."

"You really?" Hunter raises an eyebrow, "How really do you think or did you really do it?"

"I am 80% sure that I did it ..." Fitz meditates "89% after meeting the boy."

The 11% remaining It's because everything is still so cloudy thanks to the alcohol of that party ...

Hunter denies, "Dude _that is heavy_, you switched her baby."

Fitz loses his balance, stops, looks at Hunter, opens his mouth, closes it, breathes, and then opens it again in a groan, "Oh hell-"

"Are you okay, mate?"

"Not! I changed Jemma's sample ”

"Apparently you did." Hunter nods, standing up to hit his shoulder. "Congratulations, you are a father."

Fitz looks at Hunter and swallows, hard. "Am I Collin's dad? Oh bloody hell, I have to tell him...I have to tell Jemma!!”

"Wait, wait, tell Jemma? Think about this, Fitz. You've supplanted to the legal giver, I think you need a lawyer.” Hunter laughs. "Listen to me, I speak like a damn expert now. I could make my way to laws, what do you think?”

Fitz denies. "I have to tell Jemma."

"Are you sure?"

"I must tell her."

"Okay, mate." Hunter sits and watches him, sipping all his beer while Fitz continues walking through the kitchen, talking to himself.

"I must tell-"

"Yes, you already said that" Hunter reminds him, opening another beer.

Fitz applauds, determined. "I will go now"

"I still think you need a lawyer!" Hunter yells at him when Fitz closes the door.

**Author's Note:**

> n British English, "luggage" is preferred usually. While in American English, "baggage" is preferred usually  
AU yeah AUgust


End file.
